Baby Mama Interview: Sigourney Weaver

Though Weaver only shares a few scenes with the film’s stars, her presence is felt throughout the film.

To read more about her role and how her experience as an older mom influenced the movie, read more.

Weaver plays a smart, motivated woman who has the enviable ability, unlike her clients, to easily get pregnant. The actress entered motherhood at the age of 40.

While “older moms” are common these days, they were not the norm 18 years ago. Weaver said:

I remember when I was carrying my daughter they referred to me as an elderly prima pare, or something like that, and the word elderly stuck out. And I felt, you know, phew, I had her just in time before I turned into a pumpkin or something. And I actually think the film will help surrogate motherhood get a different exposure. I really do believe what my character says that there is no wrong way to have a family as long as the welfare of the child and the health of everybody is kept in mind.

She also discussed why all women will relate to this movie:

One of the things I admire about the movie is that there are things included in it that are true and really humiliating for women. Like the doctor who says your uterus is upside down or it is shaped like a shoe or your eggs have crossed eyes or whatever awful things they say to you. You are by yourself and you go, ‘Well this isn’t really funny and this is heartbreaking.’ So they really brought in this whole experience and gave us a great chance to laugh about it. I think it really is a great gift to audiences because so many people have been through this.

Weaver also provided insight on the ways parenthood has changed from generation to generation and how satisfying it is to be a working woman:

I think that parenthood in the last 25 years has changed . . . I think in the old days women stayed home and children were left to their own devices to grow up. There wasn’t this intense focus on the child and the development of the child and doing the homework. My parents never really did homework with me, my G-d! So I just think that our focus on children includes my generation as a parent.

I guess the big challenge for a mother is that if you are a working woman there are these separations that you have to deal with. Once a child gets older they are much harder on the mother than they are on the child. But I think that the good thing is that the child grows up knowing that work is something that’s desirable, fun, exciting, stimulating, not just something you have to do. So I think it was interesting to try to go back and forth. I definitely think that motherhood was the most satisfying job that I had. My daughter’s going off to college so I don’t know what I’ll do with myself it will be so quiet and neat at home!